


At first I thought you were a constellation

by SmolMo



Series: How to safe a life [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: College AU, College Parties, Comfort, Cuddles, Exam Stress, F/M, Fluff, Instant Noodles, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Roommates, Sleepless nights, college student sakusa, deep conversations at 3 am, grilled cheese sandwhich, how to save a life, lysol, messy roomates, midnight snacks, oh my god they were roommates, people telling eachother to get their shit together, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolMo/pseuds/SmolMo
Summary: Sakusa Kiyoomi, college junior, was sure…that there was a burglar in his crusty, germ-infested college flat. He’d woken up in the middle of the night because noises were coming out of the kitchen. He was sure it wasn’t his stupid flatmates because the two idiots were out on a party and wouldn’t turn up until the early hours of the morning. Simultaneously, Sakusa would leave for the gym to train because Hanataro Sato, Literature major, stumbling into their room, drunk would wake him up anyway.The noises continued. The sound of the kitchen cupboards being opened, pots and pans clattering.
Relationships: Sakusa Kiyoomi & Reader, Sakusa Kiyoomi/Reader
Series: How to safe a life [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988641
Comments: 11
Kudos: 76





	At first I thought you were a constellation

**Author's Note:**

> The college Au nobody asked for but I needed to write because Lockdown makes me miss my college buddies
> 
> This part will have small collections of Y/N and Sakusa's college life.  
> These chapters can be read as FLASHBACKS or Can be read separate from the main plot of the "How to save a life" series.
> 
> If they have some details that will be important for the main plot. I will tell so in the notes :)
> 
> Title is inspired by the song "Venus"-Sleeping at Last

Sakusa Kiyoomi, college junior, was sure…that there was a burglar in his crusty, germ-infested college flat. He’d woken up in the middle of the night because noises were coming out of the kitchen. He was sure it wasn’t his stupid flatmates because the two idiots were out on a party and wouldn’t turn up until the early hours of the morning. Simultaneously, Sakusa would leave for the gym to train because Hanataro Sato, Literature major, stumbling into their room, drunk would wake him up anyway.

The noises continued. The sound of the kitchen cupboards being opened, pots and pans clattering.

Maybe Sakusa should just stay in bed. Ignore the burglar…and leave the apartment, so Sato had to deal with the outcome…no. He’d only put all the paperwork on poor STEM freshman Misaki Yoshida, who’d tear up and have a nervous breakdown….and he’d had to deal with her because the damn girl had somehow imprinted on him like a duckling.

Maybe, if he laid there, the burglar would kill him….at least he would not have to study for his midterms…. pity that he then would not be able to volleyball anymore….

He sighed and pushed himself off the twin bed, and grabbed the closest thing on his nightstand. A cream tin, if he threw it hard enough maybe it would hit the burglar in the head…. but if he did it too well…the burglar would die…and he’d have to deal with paperwork again. He decided to take a bottle of disinfectant instead. Just spray him in the eye with the Lysol….

Would serve the damn thief right for disturbing his sleep.

The pots and pans stopped clattering, and as Sakusa slowly opened the door to the common room area, quietly so he wouldn’t scare the thief away, he caught the smell of food.

What kind of burglar made food in the apartment he broke into? And why, for the love of all the things that are disinfected, was the thief singing? Backstreet boys? Really?

He glanced into the kitchen and saw…you.

It was not a burglar; it was a girl…no young woman…he knew he didn’t see before this day, dressed in grey sweatpants, and a tank top, a blue hoodie wrapped around the waist. Hair messed up in a bun and body hunched the counter, eyeing that stupid SpongeBob Squarepants sandwich maker Sato apparently won in his orientation week campus scavenger hunt.

Sakusa noticed that you were humming to the music coming out of tangled earbuds, fingertips drumming on the kitchen counter.

The fuck?

You didn’t look like a burglar…and if you were not one…what the heck were you doing here?

“Um….hi?” Sakusa croaked because it was three in the morning, and he wasn’t sure what else to say. You didn’t react, probably due to the earbuds…so he tried again. “HEY!”

You jumped impressively high into the air, screeching and tumbled onto the ground with a clumsy thump. The mp3 flew out of your sweatpants pocket and skittered over the kitchen tiles, and stopped in front of Sakusa’s own feet.

“Geeez,” you exclaimed, putting a hand on your chest and breathing heavily. “Warn a girl, before you scare her to death!”

You looked up at the person who just scared you. Tall, pretty…well build, dark curly hair…two moles on his porcelain-like skin and a bottle of Lysol in his hands….ah

“You must be Sakusa-san,” you said and stood up, rubbing your aching tailbone with one hand and extending the other “We haven’t met… I’m L/N Y/N….”

You glanced at him, not moving an inch, then added.

“Right…Taro said something about you not being fond of shaking hands and stuff…” you bowed your head a little.

“Sorry, if I was too loud and woke you up…I assumed you were all out with Hanataro, that’s what we wrote me at least….”

“Who are you?” Sakusa still hadn’t moved.

You simply looked back at him, disheveled as you were...messy almost. Eyes, though heavily underlined with dark circles, staring right into him. Expressive....he thought and wondered why he thought so.

“L/N Y/N,” you said again and smiled a little.  
He was cute…a little slow off the mark…but you couldn’t blame him. It was the middle of the night. “Your new roommate?”

Sakusa blinked at you as you gave him a little smile …it could be a trick of the dimly lit kitchen… then it slowly hit him.

You were the flatmate that had lived here in your freshman year, the first one of the four people to actually live here…Sato had joined this flat a year later. After that year, you spend a year abroad.  
While you were away, Sakusa and Misaki moved in alongside a foreign exchange student from Taiwan. She’d left, and you apparently moved back in after your stay abroad.

Sato had not shut up about the fact that you were coming back. Gushing and Blushing, excited like a little puppy about you, his awesome senpai. Unfortunately for Sakusa, he didn’t listen when Sato was like that. The guy liked to hear himself talk, and he talked a lot.

“So…. yeah…,” you mumbled, tilting your head a little, watching the curly haired man in front of you.

“Sorry again for waking you up… I’m looking forward to live along with you…I promise not to be in your way and stuff….If any of my habits bother you, please tell me directly…we don’t need to tip toe around each other unnecessarily….oh yes…and I’ve gotten my flu shot….Taro mentioned that you’d like to know that.” You smiled again at his surprised reaction, then glanced at the Sandwich maker. “Could I interest you in a grilled cheese as a form of peace offering?”

Shit, you were rambling. He made you a little nervous, not only because Sakusa was tall and handsome (yes, it was one contributing factor) but the wish that you wanted him to feel at ease.

Hanataro, or Taro as you called him, had told you that Sakusa started University in the same year as you and had to change flats four times already because he and his flatmates didn’t get along.

Something about keeping the flat clean and keeping out of his business.  
You imagined him being a stoic, clean freak, and the fact that he’d brought in a Lysol spray to greet you in the kitchen was not really reassuring.

However, you were wrong....he was actually nice...if you got to know him a little. You guessed that everyone had their boundaries and Sakusa’s boundaries were just a little wider than others.

Sakusa ended up taking the offer of the sandwich because why the hell not? It was food.

The two of you sat at the small wobbly table on the mismatched chairs in the rusty kitchen and got to know each other while munching on grilled cheese sandwiches.

He learned that you were a med student and had just spent a whole year at a John Hopkin’s in the States and listened to you talk about the culture clash you’d experienced while being there.

The reason you were up this late was due to your jetlag. You’d arrived somewhat this evening at the flat after Sato and Misaki left for the party. Had a shower, only unpacked toiletries and comfortable sleepwear, and crashed into bed.  
Only to wake up at 3 because your body’s inner clock gave you a big middle finger.

He told a little about himself, and the two of you learned that you both grew up in Tokyo and moved to Osaka for college. Sakusa revealed that, besides his Studies for Business Communication and Health Science, he was on the scouting list for a rather famous Volleyball Team and was currently playing for their college team.

It wasn’t long before the door of their apartment clicked open, and their other teammates came in.

“SENPAI!!!” Hanataro Sato yelled out loud, kicking his shoes off and running into the kitchen, tackling you with a bear hug. The dark-haired, freckled man nuzzled his face into your belly, grunting, “I missed you soo much.”

“Ew…Taro…you reek like a bar…go clean yourself up before tackling me…” you mumbled and shoved him away with your palm against his forehead. “I’m happy to see you too…but please…”

“Anything for you Senpai!” he grinned like a child and glanced at Sakusa. “Oi Sakusa, you’ve already met her? Isn’t she great? I told you right? Misa-chan come on meet Y/N….!”

“Taro…breathe!” you chuckled and gave him a shove. “Go wash your hands and face…sober up….and if you’re done clean up all that water you spill over the basin…”

“Yes, ma’m,” Hanataro beamed at Sakusa. “She’s almost as much of a clean freak like you Sakusa!”

“It’s called common sense Hanataro Sato!” you sighed, rubbing your temple and stood up to make another sandwich. 

Then glanced at the timid girl at the door who was shuffling her feet. She had short honey blonde hair and a round face with large brown eyes.

“Misaki Yoshida right?” you smiled at her. “Taro told me a lot about you over the phone…glad to be sharing a room with you. Are you hungry? I’m making you two a sandwich.”

The girl nodded and wanted to say something but was interrupted by their other roommate.

“I’m starving!” Hanataro said, sliding into the room again, “Thank the gods, we’ll be able to have decent food once in a while again…Y/N-senpai can cook…”

“I’m not going to be the only one responsible for food,” you sighed.

“Yes…yes…” Hanataro nodded. “Sometimes we can order take out…”

“or you could just cook yourself?” you suggested and shook your head.

“No more take outs, you’ll just spend all your money on cheesy crust in the beginning of the month and those extra mozzarella sticks and end up eating instant noodles for the last 20 days.”

“You really know him well L/N-san!” Misaki chimed in carefully sitting down across Sakusa

“A himbo…stays a himbo oh and please call me by my first name,” you chuckled and got out a plate to serve a cheese SpongeBob to your underclassmen each.

“Actually, it’s an offer to all of you…. please call me by my first name….anyways….Sakusa-san…do you want another one?”

“I’m good…thank you…” Sakusa said, looking disapprovingly at Hanataro, slurping up the string of cheese that came off his sandwich.

“Eat up and go to bed,” you stated with a yawn. “We all have classes tomorrow…”

“Senpai…. It’s Saturday…..” Hanataro chewed.

“Right...” you groaned…stupid jet lag.

“The you better rest up because we’re going to clean up this apartment…I can’t believe how disorganized it is…sandwich maker behind the baking equipment? Really…and we need to write down a list of who’d doing what chore…and grocery list…there was not a decent thing in the fridge…besides store bough protein shakes and alcohol…. I’m rambling again aren’t I?”

“Yes senpai…” Hanataro grinned “You are…”

Misaki smiled softly, and even Sakusa agreed that your tired rant was....amusing...

“I should go to bed,” you sighed and rubbed your temple “Misaki-chan…would you be okay with me eating in our room?”

“Of course….” She squeaked because you looked at her directly, almost choking the corner of the sandwich she was nibbling. “Thanks for asking me…”

“Alright….” You said and flopped the next sandwich onto a plate and unplugged the sandwich maker. “I should clean that one before I go to bed tho.”

“I’ll do it,” Hanataro said. “You go sleep senpai…”

“Do you even know how?” You chuckled

“I’ll just put it in the dishwasher,” Hanataro declared and blinked at his roommates. You rubbed your temple. Misaki nibbled nervously on her sandwich, her eyes darting around at everyone in the room.

Finally, Sakusa sighed profoundly and stated. “I’ll just do it…all of you go to bed…”

“Yes, Sakusa-san!” Misaki jumped up and almost ran into the doorframe.

“You are awesome Sakusa!” Hanataro smiled and flopped his head on the table. “Senpai…. can you carry me to bed?”

“You have the ability to walk,” you shrugged and grabbed your plate.

Hanataro was asleep, or dead from what you knew….but you were too tired to deal with CPR….and if you just died, the paperwork could wait until tomorrow.

You sighed and looked at Sakusa, who was looking at you strangely. He was tired too. His eyes were half-lidded, sleepy.

“Thank you for offering to clean up, I’ll make it up to you….Sakusa-san.”

“Kiyoomi,” he stated, glancing into your eyes. His eyes were like dark pools, unreadable.

He wondered why he’d offered his first name so freely to you....heck, his teammates in High School never called him by his first name. 

“If you insist on us calling you by your first name…” Sakusa said slowly, “I’m offering you the same….Y/N.”

Hearing your name in his deep voice was strange, yet a pleasing sound, and you smiled tiredly.

“Alright, Kiyoomi-san, G’night….” you mumbled and glanced behind your shoulder before quietly going into your and Misaki’s room, not knowing that Sakusa watched your retreat the whole time.

“I knew you’d like her,” Hanataro, who indeed had not been sleeping, grinned up at his roommate and teasingly added, “Kiyoomi.”

“You…Sato, will be elible to call me by my first name when you learn to behave like a human being rather than a gremlin that crawled out of a sewage.”


End file.
